For better or worse, everyone lies. There is a show on Fox called, "Lie to Me," which I've always found to pretty interesting. This guy helps solve crimes and other problems by reading people's actions and the behaviors they emit. It's fun to watch and would be awesome to be able to do if the process was actually foolproof as it seems to be on the show. So this got me interested in the behavioral aspects and characteristics of lying. Why exactly do people lie? What motivates them?
http://www.livescience.com/health/060515_why_lie.html
In my mind, people lie because they oftentimes are reinforced for manipulating their environment. It obviously must work more times than not as people continually do it in all kinds of contexts (whether to a family member, someone at work, or a stranger), even after sometimes being caught and punished. It is a behavioral trait seemingly impossible to extinguish amongst humans, however.
Here is a site which talks about various aspects of lying including some signs one can look for within an individual who is lying:
There is no foolproof way as it may seem on televison, but there are often clues you can see in behavior that should make you suspicious:
Avoidance of eye contact: Usually someone makes eye contact at least half the time they are talking to you. If you notice them avoiding eye contact or looking down during a specific part of a conversation, they may well be lying.
Change of voice: A variation in pitch of voice or rate of speech can be a sign of lying. So can lots of umms and ahhs.
Body language. Turning your body away, covering your face or mouth, a lot of fidgeting of hands or legs can indicate deception.
Contradicting yourself:. Making statements that just don't hold together should make you suspicious.
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/4072816/
Here is a video I found discussing the premise to Fox's show "Lie to Me." It introduces the idea of reading facial expressions which people can make inferences from, i.e. lying to determine their true behaviors. Also, it discusses the validity as well as use of the new hand-held polygraph test which is being used by the US government. The speaker uses a clip from "Lie to Me" to demonstrate his point on their usefulness or lack there of when trying to elicit "truthful" responses from their subjects.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEZTt_Ciiws
Overall, the behavior of lying in part of the human experience. We use deception, oftentimes in countries such as the U.S., to enhance to our social status and image. If you think about it, one is constantly working (motivated) to shape his/her perception within their group of friends, etc. While for some people this may be more evident, it is a social need of ours to feel this sense of affiliation and belonging.
First of all, I found this blog post to be very interesting and I didn't know there was a show called "Lie to Me". I wish I knew about it because then I would have watched it! I find the ability to read other people's actions and behaviors fascinating. Even though there is no foolproof way to tell if someone's lying, the four clues that are mentioned here would make it easier to do so. In other words, I know I would look for those clues to hopefully tell if someone is lying to me or not.
I agree that many people lie because they are reinforced to do so. I know some people who would lie because it worked for them in the past. I also agree with some of the statements in the first article the blog linked to ("Why We Lie"). For example, one of the statements, "We're trying not so much to impress other people but to maintain a view of ourselves that is consistent with the way they would like us to be", explains one of my underlying motives as to why I lie. Another statement basically said that women tend to lie to make other people feel better. I know I'm guilty of this as well.
This blog post was very enlightening and gave me more insight into why and how people lie.
I found this blog to be very interesting. I have never seen the show "Lie to Me" but I am a big fan of the show Criminal Minds. Criminal Minds has similar scenes to what was described about Lie to Me, where the detectives analyze a persons' behavior to determine whether or not the subject is lying. This type of analyzing and profiling in general has always been fascinating to me; in fact it is what first interested me in psychology.
I agree with the views of the people from the first couple of posts that lying is probably a reinforced behavior. Whether people are positively reinforced by something they gain from lying or negatively reinforced by the removal of punishment if they lie to get out of trouble, it is clear that extinction of this behavior would be extremely difficult. I think that it would be fascinating to study ways of detecting deception from a person’s facial expressions, body language, or reactions. This information would be incredibly useful not only in everyday life but also for professions where deception is a common occurrence, like law enforcement.
This blog post was very interesting and I will be looking out for the signs listed when I am suspicious about somebody's behavior.